Toronto Raptors: 3 big questions heading into 2018-19 NBA season

3. Can Nick Nurse fill in for Dwane Casey?

Many were upset at Toronto’s firing of Dwane Casey, as the Raptors continues improvement was in large part due to his coaching.

Those same people were then scratching their heads when instead of bringing in an established name on the coaching block, Masai Ujiri kept it in-house, promoting assistant coach Nick Nurse to the top of the coaching chain.

Nurse had been an assistant under Casey since 2013 and prior to that had coached in the G-League for six seasons, winning two championships and a Coach of the Year award.

This Raptors squad is not a young team looking to develop over time. Nurse is being thrown into the fire of a squad capable of competing at a high level with the hope they can keep their newest acquisition in town for the foreseeable future.

Given the stakes, there won’t be much room for error and while Nurse has certainly earned a shot at a head coaching job in the NBA, he has to be ready for any and everything when it comes to the success of his team.